Oman Full Year 2018: Nissan Patrol pips Toyota Land Cruiser for #1 in market down 14.9%

While most markets in the region have managed to significantly reduce their fall, the nightmare isn’t over yet for Oman with 2018 sales down another 14.9% to 123.983 units. One thing to keep in mind for the Omani market is it has been notorious for “fake” sales ie cars being re-exported to other countries in the Middle East but still counted as an Oman new sale, and a recent crackdown on this practice has meant sales in the country are now getting closer to their “real” level which explains the continuous drop.

In this context, Toyota (-13.9%) falls slightly slower than the market and as a result crosses the symbolic 50% share mark at a whopping 50.1% thanks to over 62.000 units sold. Nissan (-5.1%) posts the best performance in the Top 14 to hold onto the 2nd spot and improve its footprint to 21.4% share, whereas Hyundai (-32.3%) drops to 6%. Lexus (-7.7%) is the best performing carmaker in the remainder of the Top 10, while Isuzu (-29.8%), Kia (-25.2%), Jeep (-21%), Honda (-19.6%) and Mazda (-17.8%) all crumble. Further down, Ram (+603.6%), MG (+228.3%), Renault (+182.1%), Genesis (+155.6%), Land Rover (+67.6%), Infiniti (+61.4%), Volvo (+47.7%), Lincoln (+30.8%), Subaru (+28.9%) and Jaguar (+10.7%) defy the adverse market conditions to all post spectacular gains.

The Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf sold 2 units in Oman in 2018.

Model-wise, for the first time this decade it’s not a Toyota in the annual Oman pole position, instead the Nissan Patrol surges 22.6% to edge past last year’s winner, the Toyota Land Cruiser (-2.8%) for just 245 units. The Toyota Hilux (-5%) is also down one spot to #3 while the Toyota Land Cruiser Pickup (-8.3%) stays at #4. The Nissan Sunny (+18.1%) and Toyota Fortuner (+21.8%) follow with very sturdy gains but it’s the Nissan Sentra (+39.9%) that posts the best performances of all models in the Top 10. The Toyota Rush (#41) is the only 2018 launch in the Top 50, way above the MG RX5 (#140) and MG ZS (#146). Notice also the Aston Martin Lagonda Taraf pointing its imposing bonnet at #223 with 2 sales in Oman.